As the US and Russia reach a new deal to enforce a ceasefire in Syria set to come into force on Saturday 27th February , James Sadri, Director of The Syria Campaign says:

“Why should Syrians trust this latest agreement? Two years ago yesterday, the UN Security Council banned the use of barrel bombs. Since then, the Syrian air force has dropped nearly 20,000 of them on schools and civilian neighbourhoods, to smiles and nods from Vladimir Putin.

“To have any chance of success, this ceasefire needs back up. The US and Europe should signal their readiness to enforce safe zones to protect civilians if this deal collapses.

“Expecting words alone to stop this killing machine after nearly five years is bordering on the delusional. Without enforcement, this ceasefire will be stillborn.”

[ENDS]

Notes to editors

According to a report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights 19,947 barrel bombs have killed 8,136 Syrian civilians in the last two years (source:http://sn4hr.org/blog/)

Russian air strikes have killed over 1500 civilians in the last four months including nearly 300 children. In January more civilians were killed in Russian bombardments than by Syrian government forces, Isis and al-Nusra combined (source: http://sn4hr.org/)

The Syria Campaign was established in 2013 as an independent advocacy group to focus on the protection of civilians in Syria. To maintain its impartiality, The Syria Campaign accepts no funding from governments or any group involved in the conflict https://thesyriacampaign.org